IDF says it hit dozens of terror sites in Gaza as UN agency pans ‘disregard for life’

The IDF said it carried out 25 strikes across Gaza on Friday, targeting operatives and infrastructure of Hamas and other terror groups, as United Nations agencies accused Israel of atrocities and forced displacement in the Strip.

The Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry said at least 41 people had been killed over the past 24 hours. It alleged Israel had killed 896 Palestinians since resuming hostilities on March 18, and over 50,000 since the war was triggered by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

The figures cannot be independently confirmed and don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it seeks to avoid targeting civilians and accuses Hamas of embedding itself among them.

The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA reported several deaths on Friday in airstrikes on homes in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Younis, as well as a tent sheltering displaced people in the Jabalia camp and a vehicle west of Khan Younis. WAFA also reported gunfire by Israeli military vehicles in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya, artillery fire in Gaza City and demolition of buildings in Rafah by Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, amid aid agencies’ warnings of a food shortage in Gaza, the World Central Kitchen charity said Israel had struck one of its food distribution sites in Gaza on Thursday, killing a local volunteer identified as Jalal and wounding six others. The IDF said it was probing the incident and in touch with WCK.

In a statement Friday, WCK said it would continue to “operate our field kitchens where possible, based on daily assessments.” The statement didn’t give the precise location of the strike.

On April 1, 2024, an Israeli missile strike on a car bearing WCK insignia killed seven aid workers from the charity — three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.

At the time, WCK suspended its activity in Gaza for four weeks, and Israel apologized to the organization, saying an officer had falsely determined that an armed Hamas operative was traveling in the car. Two senior officers were dismissed over the killing.

Israel announced on March 2 that it would suspend the delivery of all goods and supplies to Gaza due to what it said was Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal to extend the initial phase of a ceasefire and hostage release deal that was reached in January. After a two-week impasse, Israel scuttled the deal with a series of airstrikes across the Strip.

The 42-day first phase saw Hamas release 33 women, children, civilian men over 50 and those deemed “humanitarian cases,” in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including over 270 serving life terms in connection with the murders of dozens of Israelis.

A potential second phase would have required Israel to withdraw from Gaza and seen Hamas release any hostages still alive, a number believed to stand at 24. All are young men abducted on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

But Israel refused to negotiate over the second phase, with the government saying it would not accept ending the war with Hamas still in power.

A third phase would have seen Hamas return the remains of 35 hostages.

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been scrambling to renew the ceasefire.

Amid the aid halt that followed the expiration of the first phase, the UN’s World Food Programme warned Friday that stocks of food and medical supplies were running out fast.

The agency said it has 5,700 tons of food stocks left in Gaza, home to some 2.3 million people — enough to support WFP operations for two weeks at most.

The World Health Organization added that there were severe shortages of blood supplies to treat the wounded amid the renewed Israeli offensive.

“Everything related to trauma is quickly running short. There are fewer than 500 blood units available — 4,500 blood packs are needed each month,” WHO spokesman Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva via video link in Jerusalem.

Amid the aid halt to Gaza, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN aid agency OCHA, said in Geneva on Friday that Israel’s actions in the Strip “bear the hallmarks of atrocity crimes.”

“There is a callous disregard for human life and dignity,” said Laerke, accusing Israel of striking populated areas in which civilians had been killed.

Israel insists that it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and accuses Hamas of putting civilians in harm’s way by fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights office accused Israel of violating international law by forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza under “mandatory evacuation orders.”

UN human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said, “these evacuations fail to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law.”

Since the resumption of hositilies in Gaza, the IDF has issued what the UN described as 10 mandatory evacuation orders, covering large areas across Gaza. Most recently, the IDF on Wednesday called on residents to evacuate the Gaza City area from which rockets were launched at southern Israel that evening.

Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Israel is not taking any measures to provide accommodation for the evacuated population, nor ensure that these evacuations are conducted in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition,” said Al-Kheetan.

Over half of northern Gaza appears to be under such orders, he said, while those who have been newly displaced from the south of the enclave in the Rafah area and forced to go to coastal Al Mawasi were not guaranteed safety there.

“We are deeply concerned about the shrinking space for civilians in Gaza who are being forcibly displaced by the Israeli army from large swaths of territory,” the statement added.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.